Posted on 05/03/2014 5:08:39 AM PDT by blam
Egypt Archaeologists May Have Found Alexander the Great’s Tomb
Nikoleta Kalmouki
April 30, 2014
In Egypt, a team of archaeologists and historians from the Polish Center of Archaeology have revealed a mausoleum made of marble and gold that might be the tomb of Alexander the Great. The site is situated in an area known as Kom el-Dikka in the heart of downtown Alexandria, only 60 meters away from the Mosque of Nebi Daniel.
The monument was apparently sealed off and hidden in the 3rd or 4th century AD, to protect it from the Christian repression and destruction of pagan monuments after the change of the official religion within the Roman Empire. It is a testimony to the multicultural nature of Alexander’s empire, as it combines artistic and architectural influences from Greek, Egyptian, and Persian cultures. The inscriptions are mainly in Greek but there are also a few Egyptian hieroglyphs, mentioning that the mausoleum is dedicated to the “King of Kings, and Conqueror of the World, Alexander III.” The finding is extremely important as it can provide new information about Alexander the Great.
The mausoleum contains a broken sarcophagus made of crystal glass, 37 bones, mostly heavily damaged but presumably all from the same adult male, as well as some broken pottery dating from the Ptolemaic and Roman ages. A carbon-dating analysis and a series of other tests will determine the age of the bones and whether or not they belong to the Macedonian King.
(Excerpt) Read more at world.greekreporter.com ...
Of Interest!
BookMark
/johnny
My Pleasure, Sunken Civ! :-)
FR Canteen ~ Alexander The Great: Conclusion ~ January 13, 2004
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/1056860/posts
> Some centuries later, Alexander’s golden sarcophagus was melted down for coinage by the Ptolomius XI (116-107, 87-81 B.C.) and replaced with one of alabaster. Strabo (17. C 794), who visited Alexander’s tomb himself in the first century A.D.
Greek language engravings discovered in Alexandria
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1706444/posts?page=8#8
> [Young Werther] Legend has it that Alexander’s Sarcophogus was crystalline and that he was “buried in the Euphrates river. There is a competing legend that he sarcopogus was carried back to Egypt and taken out to the desert and buried with the Pharohs at, I think Hamunaptra! Supposedly Mark Anthony was taken there by Cleopatra’s priests to kneel at Alexanders sarcophogus!
Macedonia’s ‘Indiana Jones’ Won’t Rest Until He Finds Alexander’s Tomb
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2962487/posts
> “We opt for the second theory, that there is a grave in Egypt but that Alexander is not there because on the request of his mother, Olympia, the sarcophagi were replaced and one coffin was sent to Egypt, while the other traveled to Macedonia, where Alexander is buried.
Cool.
If true—this is one of the greatest finds in Western Civilization.
Thanks blam. This looks like a winner for the moving of those massive one-piece statues, but doesn’t do much for the pyramind construction. :’)
http://www.livescience.com/45285-how-egyptians-moved-pyramid-stones.html
Now someone has to make sure the Moslems don’t destroy it.
I wonder of there is any way of determining whether it was malaria that killed him. As a malaria sufferer, I am curious. This is a fascinating find.
Glass coffin filled with honey. Glass broken, honey gone. Sounds plausible.
No pictures?
I agree it is a great find. Which gives me an idea.
Sunken Civ, why don’t you put together a poll to find out how FRreepers rate the top 10 (or 20) archeological finds of past 200 years. Survey Monkey has a very easy step by step process for producing your own poll and it’s free.
I trust Sunken Civ to have all the great ones at his fingertips, but he could ask for suggestions from his GGG mailing list.
The Romans didn’t burn the library, it existed for centuries thereafter.
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